Handmade Skateboards, Part 1

Though the South Florida surf season is at it peak, the surf in 2012 has been iffy at best. So to ride out the lulls while keeping the ride perpetual, cruising along the beach road on a skateboard is a great way to keep the heart going, soak up a little Vitamin D and keep the seaward motion moving. But the boards found at the surf shops just don't suit my tastes; I don't want some super longboard or some street board, but a nice cruiser that's easy to maneuver and a little different from the standard stuff on the market. So the latest project at Shore Life is to make a handmade skateboard.

   The design of the board is relatively simple. I do not have access to a steaming setup, so I cannot bend wood, so it is time to get old school. These aren't those old crate scooters of old, but a page straight out of the 1970s when the Z-Boys were kicking it in Dogtown, and the decks were flat and fly. Using a solid block of wood, preferably oak, I hand cut the deck, modeling the shape after a twin-fin fish surfboard I am currently making (it is the surfboards little land brotha, and a future article), complete with a swallow tail and rounded nose. 

   

Truck location

   The dimensions are a closely guarded secret of the Shore Life brethren, but before cutting the deck shape I mapped out the position of the trucks. Being handmade, the shape will not be perfectly symmetrical, which adds to the character but doesn't make mapping out the position of the trucks post-cut easy, so placing the trucks while the board is still square was must.

   Once I cut the deck, I busted out the old block plane and Stanley Surform hand plane to cleanup the shape and get it looking like a deck.

  

   For a deck design I carved out a shark on the bottom using some super sharpened chisels and a Swiss-made wood-carving knife (don't try this at home folks, you'll cut your fingertips off or stick a chisel in your thigh).

   The rest of the setup must be done at the shop where the drill press is located, and since the weather calls for crap this weekend, check in this Sunday for the final product, a lineup of the hardware used and a review on whether the board is a boom or bust.

Cheers, and enjoy the Shore Life!